Seat belts are commonly used in passenger vehicles to secure a passenger to a seat, the seat belt typically fastens around the waist of the passenger. In the event of an accident, the seat belt restrains the passenger to the seat instead of the passenger experiencing free flight in the cab of the vehicle. Seat belts in modern vehicles include a shoulder strap and a waist strap to better restrain the passenger's torso against the seat and the seat back in the event of an accident.
Restraint harnesses have been commonly used in vehicles to secure children passengers to bench seat. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,474 issued to Rupert et al. discloses a restraint vest that utilizes a pair of straps that laterally encircle the torso of the wearer with a pair of straps that extend from the anterior side of the torso over the shoulders to the posterior side of the torso. Anchoring straps are secured to the seat back or to the floor to secure the vest to the seat.
Nevertheless, the restraint harnesses available today are useless when a passenger is wearing an appliance, such as a leg cast, body cast, brace, or any other appliance that affects the lower limbs, because the appliance often requires that the passenger be transported in a supine position with the torso of the passenger and the appliance being secured to the seat.
Therefore, what is needed is a restraint harness that is designed for securing a passenger who is wearing a lower limb appliance to a seat while the passenger is in a supine position.